According to this article Mischief could be the world's oldest cat. At a grand age of 27 human years that makes him around 125 in cats years. There are records of a 29 year old cat which has since died but there is currently no record holder in the UK for the oldest cat. Mr Thorne, Mischief's owner got him as a kitten in 1981. 27 years later he is now an indoor cat and despite losing clumps of his fur is still going strong. The oldest cat ever was Creme Puff, who was born on August 3, 1967 and lived until August 6, 2005 an amazing 38 years and three days.

This article suggests that the average cost of a wedding has doubled over the past decade and now costs around £21,000. I wonder whether its just a case of people not shopping around when they are planning their wedding. When I got married two years ago I spend a total of £9880.81 on our wedding which I considered to be quite a lot of money. For that, however, I got a lovely ceremony in my local church in Egham followed by a stunning reception for 120 people at Royal Holloway University as well as an evening buffet for an extra 50 people.

My dress cost just under £600 including the veil and tiara and the bridesmaids dress was around half that. I definitely didn't cut corners but was aware that our total budget of £10,000 could not be exceeded. We had a little help with my parents paying for the photographer and we made all of our table decorations and favours to save a bit of cash. The only thing we couldn't afford was a honeymoon so we came up with the idea of asking our guests to contribute towards this and as a result had a nice relaxing break in the sun without having to worry about the cost. I found that the £10,000 budget went further than expected and our wedding day was certainly not lacking in any way in fact it was pretty much perfect, a little careful budgeting and research can go a long way in planning a wedding, and I don't think it needs to cost £21,000.

A street cleaner in Lincoln could find that he is considerably richer if he can solve an unusual puzzle. The cleaner came across a bag full of cut up bank notes when he was going about his daily cleaning. He handed it into police but after six months the notes have remained unclaimed and as there is no evidence that they have been stolen the cleaner is allowed to keep them. The only catch is that for the notes to be worth anything he first has to stick them all back together. It is estimated that there are £10,000 worth of notes in the bag so this is one puzzle that is really worth solving.

This is interesting its a sat nav collar for dogs. The sat nav device in integrated into a waterproof collar. It uses satellite, telecom and radio frequencies to pin point the location of the dog and then alerts the owner once the animal is on the move. The collar can also send a text message if the dog goes beyond a pre programmed range. Whilst at home the collar can be switched off to save the battery life but it can still send an alert if the dog wanders out of range. The collars which are made by a company called Retrieva will be available in January and start at £250. I wonder whether they will make a version for cats.

The government has come up with a new scheme that it hopes will stop people taking advantage of the sick note system. Sick notes have been in place for around 60 years, however, what started as a scheme designed to protect vulnerable people has effectively turned into a means for some people to be consigned to long term unemployment. Under the new scheme instead of receiving a sick note saying that they cannot work a patient will instead receive a note detailing what work they can do and well as what they are unable to do. The idea is that the it will make it easier for people who have been sick to return to the workplace and encourage people to stay in work. The scheme will be introduced in 2010 and it is hoped that it will encourage doctors and employers to work together to help people with a disability to stay in employment. Its an interesting idea and I can see that is is aimed at benefiting those with genuine disabilities. I wonder whether it will go any way towards cutting down on those people who use the sick note culture as an excuse not to work.

Those who are feeling a little wobbly on their feet after a night out in Devon are being offered flip flops so that they can get home safely. The police in Torquay say that giving out the flip flops makes it easier for women to get home instead of struggling with high heels. The flip flops are part of a wider initiative which includes advice on safer sex and measures to reduce crime. The flip flops will be given out in December and will have information about safe alcohol limits printed on them. The scheme is costing £30,000 and is being funded by the Home Office by Safer Communities Torbay which is an alliance of the local authority, police and health services. At a time when many local authorities are finding they are rather short of funds, I can't help wondering whether this money could have been put to better use elsewhere.

This is interesting, it suggest that lizards attract attention by doing push ups when the forest is noisy. Researchers found that Puerto Rican lizards put on elaborate displays of push ups and send signals by bobbing their heads up and down and unfurling flaps of skin under their chins. The push ups are only used when the lizards are trying to communicate with another lizard that is far away or when the light is bad.

I came across this story about a two headed kitten that has been born in Australia. The kitten can meow from both mouths at once although it can only eat through one of its mouths. Unfortunately the kitten is not likely to live very long.

Fred the parrot was so traumatised when his owner died that he was prescribed an animal friendly version of the drug Prozac. When his owner died Fred bit off all of his tail feathers before being prescribed the drug which he takes twice a day. After his owner George died, Fred was unable to understand the sudden disappearance and sat on his perch all day bobbing his head up and down. Animal experts believe that the parrot went into a deep depression after the unexplained loss of his owner and was unable to cope with the loss. Poor parrot.

Its getting to that time of year when Christmas music is playing everywhere we go. What better time than to take a look at the top 10 most played Christmas tracks. Surprisingly Wham's Last Christmas tops the list as the most played, that according to The Performing Right Society which collects royalties for composers and musicians. Next comes Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas. The Pogues come third with Fairytale of New York. Mariah Carey is Fourth with All I Want for Christmas Is You. This is followed by Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by Bruce Springsteen in fifth place, Stop the Cavalry by Jona Lewie in sixth, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard in seventh, Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade at eight, Mud's Lonely This Christmas in ninth and at number ten White Christmas by Bing Crosby.

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